【推荐1】How to Boost Your Memory

The brain might be the place where memories are stored, and its memory capacity can be enlarged.     1    Taking steps to improve your lifestyle in the following four areas will help keep your mind sharp.

●    2     Exercise helps with the activity of brain cells and also helps reduce the risk of brain diseases. It also helps brain cells repair themselves and their connections to other brain cells. Memory can improve in both brain-healthy older adults and with mild brain disorder after a 12-week exercise program.

●Getting sugar from fruits and vegetables instead of products with added sugars is healthier for body and brain. Too much sugar restricts blood flow to the brain and can even cause brain illness. The real brain foods are those called the mind diet.     3    

●Sleep is critical for memory formation, especially long-term memory formation. That’s because when you’re asleep, the brain, runs the tape of what it recorded during the day, gets rid of information that isn’t relevant and then stores other information for the long term.     4     The more you can keep a regular sleep schedule, the better off your brain and the rest of you will be.

●Challenging your brain is of great benefit, too. Maybe you’re a crazy bridge player, a crossword puzzle lover or a regular lecturer.     5     To get the most memory boost out of puzzles or intellectual activities, the key is to keep things fresh and challenging. New and challenging activities help form new pathways in the brain.

【推荐2】Regular jogging (慢跑) can reduce your risk of health problems. If you’re new to jogging, getting started can seem a little difficult.     1    .

Fuel your body 2 hours before jogging

Eat a healthy meal rich in fruit and vegetables before jogging.    2    . It will also help muscle grow and repair. If you’re jogging for weight loss, try increasing your intake of fruit and vegetables. Reduce your intake of sugary food and drinks.

Warm up for 5 minutes before jogging

It’s very important to warm up before you jog.    3    .Some good warm-up exercises include doing knee lifts, side-stepping and climbing stairs. You may have heard that it’s important to stretch (拉伸) before you run, but stretching before exercise can put additional strain (拉紧) on your muscles. Therefore, focus on warming up before jogging.

    4    

Most people think how far and how long you run has to do with patience and a strong will. However, having the proper running form plays an important role in jogging. To make the most of your jogging, remember to keep your head straight and your muscles relaxed, avoid lifting your knees too high, and touch the ground lightly with the middle of your foot.

Cool down after your jogging

After jogging, you can avoid strain on your heart and muscles by doing cool-down exercise. Finish your jog with 5～10 minutes of walking.    5    , You should do deep stretches and hold each stretch for 15～30 seconds.

【推荐2】Most people aim to get their recommended seven to nine hours of sleep in one long stretch at night. And the technical term for this is “monotheistic sleep (单向睡眠)”    1    .

However, we may not have been programmed to sleep in this way.

Now I’m sure you’ve had that experience of a drop in your concentration in the afternoon, where you start to feel a little sleepy.     2     as their heads begin sort of moving up and down during afternoon meetings. And it happens to most of us somewhere between the one to four pm. mark.

What this suggests is that we may have been designed to sleep in a biphasic (双向的) pattern, meaning one longer period of sleep at night, and then a short afternoon nap during the day, very much like the nap cultures around the world.

But is napping always a good thing?     3    . Although we and other scientists have discovered that naps can have benefits for both the brain and the body, naps can be a double-edged weapon. Long naps in the afternoon or in early evening can just take the edge of your sleepiness.     4    .

So if you are struggling with sleep at night, the best advice is not to nap during the day. Instead, build up all of that healthy sleepiness so that you give yourself the best chance of falling asleep easily, and then staying asleep soundly across night.     5     Naps of around 20 minutes taken early in the day can be just fine.